ISLAMABAD, October 29, 2021: The Balochistan Assembly elected Mir Abdul Quddus Bezinjo as leader of the house unopposed on Friday, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN).

Following are key observations of the proceedings during first and last sitting of the 45^th session: 

 Members’ Participation

• The House met for five hours and 34 minutes; however, the proceedings remains suspended for 49 minutes due to prayer break.
• The sitting started at 11:15 am against the scheduled time of 10:00 am.
• The deputy speaker presided over the entire sitting.
• The leader of the opposition was present for four hours and 53 minutes.
• As many as 39 (60%) lawmakers were present at the outset and 15 (23%) at the adjournment of the sitting.
• The parliamentary leaders of BNP-A, BAP, ANP, PTI, HDP, PML-N, BNP-M, MMAP, PkMAP and JWP attended the sitting.
• Three minority lawmakers were present.

Representation and Responsiveness

• The chief minister-elect addressed the House for 58 minutes. As many as 36 lawmakers also spoke on the subject of the election of the chief minister consuming two hours and 44 minutes of the proceedings.
• Mir Abdul Quddus Bezinjo was elected leader of the house unopposed as he secured 39 out of 65 votes. The election was held through division in the lobbies.

Order and Institutionalization

• The session was prorogued sine die.

Transparency

• ‘Orders of the Day’ was available to the legislators, observers and others.
• The attendance of lawmakers was not available to the observers and media.

This daily factsheet is based on direct observation of the Balochistan Assembly proceedings conducted by Center for Peace and Development (CPD) – a member organization of FAFEN. Errors and omissions are excepted